I am a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, I also am a Senior Fellow in International Religious Persecution with the Institute on Religion and Public Policy. I am the author and editor of numerous books, including Foreign Follies: America's New Global Empire, The Politics of Plunder: Misgovernment in Washington, and Beyond Good Intentions: A Biblical View of Politics. I am a graduate of Florida State University and Stanford Law School.

Arriving at the airport in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, reminds one of the vast gulf between the First and Third World. Chaotic, frenetic, disorganized, dilapidated—when I visited a couple months ago I almost longed for New York’s JFK airport, which I normally loathe. The government is building a new facility, but no matter how modern the buildings, the new airport is likely to end up much like the old one: chaotic, frenetic, and disorganized, if not quite so dilapidated.

Pakistan’s recent election was much like the country’s capital airport. Except violence and murder added to the chaos. Nawaz Sharif, of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz emerged as the likely new prime minister. The only unambiguous good news, beyond the generally free vote, is that the religious parties did not gain.

Sharif, a former prime minister who was ousted in 1999 by military chief Pervez Musharraf (whose recent attempt to return to politics was blocked by Pakistan’s courts), has spent a lifetime seeking political power. However, the prize may be a poisoned chalice.

Pakistan is a tragic land, an Islamic state increasingly turned fundamentalist and violent. For the first time in the country’s more than six decade life, a civilian government fulfilled its full five-year term. However, the unimpressive performance of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party left it fighting outsider cricket star Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party to avoid a third place finish. Moreover, President Asif Ali Zardari’s term ends in September and he has no chance of being reappointed by the parliament.

The government’s failure was sweeping. Observed Vali Nasr, author and former State Department adviser, Pakistan “is nuclear-armed, in near conflict with India, has a dangerous civil war with its own extremists, is now subject to one of the most brutal terrorism campaigns against its population, and is now coming apart along sectarian lines.”

The state does not even rule its own territory. Much of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Balochistan are beyond Islamabad’s control. At least 4,000 Pakistani soldiers have died since 2004 fighting the Pakistani Taliban.

Indeed, in this election radicals waged a murderous campaign against democratic politicians, essentially shutting down campaigning in some areas. Federal ministers and state governors have been assassinated for their liberal views.

Islamabad remains relatively safe, but only because of the overwhelming security. Barricades and checkpoints dot the streets. I recently stayed at the Marriott, which was turned into a veritable fortress after a bombing a few years ago. The city is the kind of place where you can walk safely while not actually feeling safe.

Attempts by the Pakistani government to micro-manage the economy have failed. The latest Economic Freedom of the World report ranks Pakistan tied for 111-114 out of 144 countries. Islamabad sits below Bangladesh, another chaotic and violent land that once was part of Pakistan.

The ill consequences of government economic control have been exacerbated by political instability. Only brave or foolish outsiders enter the Pakistani economy. In fact, foreign investment has collapsed since 2008, dropping by more than four-fifths. Unemployment and inflation are high; economic infrastructure is decrepit; even Islamabad suffers routine power outages.

The practice of democracy has been consistently corrupt, incompetent, and disillusioning. The political system is essentially authoritarian with a democratic veneer. Despite the presence of an educated and talented elite, Pakistan lacks the lush civil society that characterizes most Western nations. The government is simultaneously ubiquitous and ineffective, discouraging individual and communal action.

Moreover, the elections are formally but not practically free. Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif sought power democratically but were essentially feudal lords in their home provinces who focused on dispensing patronage. Even sports hero Imran Khan has yet to break the political duopoly of the PPP and PML-N. Violent attacks on the PPP and other secular-minded parties, such as the Awami National Party and Muttahida Quami Movement, hindered their ability to compete. (In fact, one of former PPP Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s sons was kidnapped at an election rally on the last day of the campaign.)

Even when civilian politicians formally ruled, they did not control the military and especially the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency, which long aided the Taliban against the American-installed government in Kabul. Most previous democratic administrations ended badly, usually with military intervention.

During the Cold War Washington cheerfully supported whatever thug in uniform happened to rule, most ruinously Zia ul-Haq, who promoted Islamic fundamentalism to buttress his undemocratic rule. Five years ago General turned President Musharref relinquished power, but the murder of Benazir Bhutto left her less loved husband, Asif Ali Zardari, as president in 2008. Despite frequent predictions of military intervention, the armed services stayed out of politics, allowing the PPP government to finish its term. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani may not have wanted to be stuck attempting to govern the ungovernable.

Solving Pakistan’s problems is made even more difficult with war in next door Afghanistan. The Afghan-Pakistani border is an artifact of history, artificially dividing what some people call Pashtunistan. So long as the U.S. supports a government in Kabul viewed as hostile in Islamabad—even worse, which has warm relations with Pakistan’s hated adversary, India—Islamabad is going to meddle, often against American objectives. Moreover, incidents like the killing by NATO forces of 24 Pakistani soldiers in November 2011, which led Islamabad to shut down allied resupply columns for seven months, are inevitable.

Washington’s drone war may pose an even bigger problem. Islamabad cannot be trusted to confront the problem of terrorism. For instance, few analysts doubt that alerting the Zardari government to Osama bin Laden’s presence would have ensured his escape. Even if the civilian authorities are willing, the military has too many ties, both formal and informal, with extremists to inspire trust.

In contrast, drones work. They kill terrorists and there are terrorists in Pakistan to kill. It is widely assumed that Islamabad has acquiesced if not encouraged the drone campaign so long as the government can maintain plausible deniability. The Pakistan military has done the same thing, falsely but publicly claiming that it had ended drone flights from Shamsi Air Force Base, for instance. As a result, it is believed that extremists now are less likely to seek sanctuary in Pakistan.

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I would suggest, that if anyone has ever planned to write an article, with this deep analysis…..he shouldn’t be scared. This is a job of a person of a lion heart….I used to live in a ghetto part of the Bronx, and everyone told me it’s dangerous etc…yet I would walk in the middle of the street, coming alone from work and felt safe…..I’ve lived in Pakistan, and with a constant bomb blasts, Pakistani are safe…I think Pakistani Bombs, kill less then the drunk drivers kill in the USA per ratio base. Please just stop being negative about Pakistan, every country has its own problems, and lets focus on ours, in this country.

For the Writer to Read: Writer of this post is paid for not writing but for misguiding the people. Mr Doug Bandow should work hard to refine his knowledge and analytical skills. MR Doug Bandow, can you please answer that how many innocents people have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq and who is the sponsor of what is happening in the Africa since decades. I am quite sure that you have the real answer but you lack courage to come up with real facts. You are just a paid actor. If Pakistan will have sufficient resources to pay you, you will even agree to write bad words about your country and even your forefathers. Nothing personal, just tried to be straight forward. I will be really happy if you publish an article and explain that what has killed more innocent people: terrorists or people fighting the war against terrorism. I never thought that Forbes will ever hire people like you as writer. I feel mercy for them. Thanks

It sounds like just what you would expect from a stereo typical western journalist on a visit to Pakistan.

the country is nothing like what you described, there is huge oversight on your part either that or your living in a bubble.

The worlds problems are derived by US action, Pakistan has a great future once the US leaves.

I strongly believe Imran khan will drive the educated youth to vision a new Pakistan, there is so much the west don’t see, the west are just interested in the nukes, hence the articles.It seems like there’s hidden agenda behind all this. Most of the western journalists are singing from the same hymn book.

The author does not touch upon the real problem of Pakistan created by USA which built up the Pakistan Military to be on par with India which was thrice its size in population.Now that India has moved ahead the Pakistan Military wants some one to take the tab which even their Chinese friends do not want to touch. that is the crux of the problem which is Pakistan’s Military

The US imposed thirty years of sanctions on Pakistan–and did not build the military. Pakistan spends 18% of its GDP on defense–not a major issue at all. Moved ahead? Bharat owns 70% of the world’s poor and grew at 2% for fifty of its sixty years (the last decade was an anomaly). Pakistan on an average grew at 7% and doubled its GDP in the past fifteen years (last five years was an anomaly–because of devastating floods, earthquakes and incompetence of the PPP government). Pakistan will return to its growth after the US withdraws its forces in defeat from Afghanistan

Dough, your rationalization about ground realities of Pakistan , rather too much simplistic .170millions Pakistanis are suffering on account of the wrong choice of stooges by the incompetent and self-centered leaders of America itself, like Bush. Bush choose Musharaf, a power hungry,greedy and overconfident despot and over trusted him(Musharaf) who dodged him on all accounts. Later Bush guided Musharaf to coin notorious ,NRO, in collaboration with the late Benazir that facilitated the current Machiavellian character, Zardari to occupy president house. Likewise Bush picked another,greedy, corrupt to the bones,Karasai for Afghanistan. What can this breed deliver, except chaos, corruption and utter mismanagement with expected consquences?

A disgustingly biased article written by Doug Bandow who doesn’t have a clue about Pakistan or the region. The article is full of errors. Mr. Sharif is an industrialist not a landowner! He doesn’t remember that much of the terror has been caused by foriegn powers–and those he calls terrorists today were invited to the White House and called “the moral equivalent of the founding fathers of America” (President Reagan). The people of FATA joined Pakistan under the condition of autonomy–and when it suited the powers, this autonomy was used to destroy the USSR. It like saying that Puerto Rico has to be one of the fifty states. Only ingrates forget that Pakistan was a frontier state. Pakistan lost more than $96 billion in because of the US war in Afghanistan. NATO and ISAF truck destroyed the roads as they rumbled to war. The airport that he calls dilapidated was abused by the forces that occupied Afghanistan–and never updated. Pakistan’s airport at Karachi and Lahore are better than many US airports. Bandow’s comment on “artificial national boundaries” is as spurious as his thoughts. Afghanistan is the artificial state created in 1893 by cobbling together various ethnicities into a buffer between the British and Russian empires. Pakistan is the latest resurrection of the 5000 year old Indus Valley Civilization which has existed since the time of Moses as a separate and distinct identity in the world.

The Author’s unmitigated bigoted drivel is biased, it has serious errors in it and is typical of the anti-Pakistan tripe so pervasive in some racist quarters these days. It is very disappointing to see this esteemed publication chose to reproduce such a rambling crypto-racist screed. The author’s Teutonic bloviations are an admixture of discredited Neocon assertions, unsubstantiated, or outright Indian distortion, and pure unadulterated balderdash. His nauseating fixation upon and paranoid conspiratorial delusions about Pakistanis are a transparent attempt to justify the murderous rampage, carnage and barbarism faced by West Asia. The twaddle fails to illuminate the confusing deluge of eerily inept and counter-intuitive claptrap masquerading as fact in the clumsily stage-managed “global war on terror” environment.

From the first sentence to the last–the article reeks of what is called “The Ugly American”. Doug get a life and get a clue. Islamabad is a world class capital unlike any other city in the third world. Not a word about it. The Marriot you stayed at is second to none as far as Marriots go. No a positive word from you about it. Patching together negative comments from various reports doesn’t an article make–it is called a rhetorical rant. Your prediction that the world class Fateh Jang airport will become bad airport is indicative of your hubris and lack of knowledge about Asia and about Pakistan. Your content displays no insight–just negativity compacted in racist verbosity. Come back to Islamabad in five years–you may learn something when you land at the new airport.

Writer of this post is paid for not writing but for misguiding the people. Mr Doug Bandow should work hard to refine his knowledge and analytical skills. MR Doug Bandow, can you please answer that how many innocents people have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq and who is the sponsor of what is happening in the Africa since decades. I am quite sure that you have the real answer but you lack courage to come up with real facts. You are just a paid actor. If Pakistan will have sufficient resources to pay you, you will even agree to write bad words about your country and even your forefathers. Nothing personal, just tried to be straight forward. I will be really happy if you publish an article and explain that what has killed more innocent people: terrorists or people fighting the war against terrorism. I never thought that Forbes will ever hire people like you as writer. I feel mercy for them. Thanks

For the Good Lord’s sake, it’s not what actually is. If I post a pictures of the children (all below adultery) who have been killed or disabled you may decide that what’s written is just one side of the picture. All of them gave their lives for what? Just to ensure the safety of your so-called civilized world? No, they belong to same specie and there will be justice…Insha Allah! –

Shame on you “The West” and shame on the writer of this post. This certainly is wrong projection and perception of Pakistan and its people. Why don’t you call America and its allies the most dangerous who has killed millions of innocent people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan in this decade on the pretext of fake war against terror? You people are just insane who don’t see the criminology of Americans and NATO.? Why don’t you call the nation who has the history of using nuclear weapons against innocent people in Japan? Why don’t you look into history and see which nation has the history of massacres? Where are the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? What did you find in Afghanistan? Why did you plane 9/11? Now we all know the inside of 9/11. It was a drama staged to kill innocent people of Afghanistan Pakistan and Iraq. You people are bloody bastards. You are the most dangerous, the animals, the rascals. And even though you carry thousands of nuclear weapons, all sorts of weapons of mass destruction, You have so much material even to destruct the universe. Yet you are afraid of peace loving Muslims? and that’s why you are calling us “Most Dangerous”. Shame on you…. rascals!

are you serious? you just wasted my time :/ you were sketching Pakistan like hell, OMG, just got some relief, one free advice for you man, don’t come here again if you have these much problems with us, we are Happy while living in Pakistan, we are happy with our problems, we have guts to solve these all.

Good Morning Doug Bandow , Here i want to interrupted in your research in which you describe against Pakistan. I agree that some of your research applicable on aspect of Pakistan, like on election that formally it is free but actually it was not free. okey we agree. But Mr. Doug Bandow why you not talk about that the Pakistan Army which is war fighting against Taliban actually it is war of America, they break the hegemony and power of taliban and they now can not reach in American but Pakistan sacrifices thousands of bodies of innocent Pakistani . but you not giving appreciation You describe Pakistan in negative manner me seeming as you hate Pakistan. But Mr. Doug Bandow Pakistan is not like as you mention in your research. please next time must thing when some one read your column what kind of image create in eyes of other. You now although there are terrorism in Pakistan but Pakistani giving the full security to the diplomat. No incident happen yet which show the diplomat or their staff member gun down or kill in boom blast. Pakistani giving them protection Pakistan is our country we love Pakistan please next time ……. we want strong relation with America because It help us in every field of life and developing Pakistan. Pakistan Zinda Abad.

Sir! I don’t know whether you are trying to highlight the problems or just spreading hatred against my beloved country …… when I was reading this article believe me I was shocked and wasn’t expecting such despicable material from a professional writer like you , I never had a Forbes account but today I made one to answer you ……. you portrayed our image like we still are living in the stone age ….. you have said “the most dangerous nation” , right? ….. Sir! I ask you a question what so dangerous we have done for which you have used these words? …… I admit that we are not developed like you are , but it doesn’t make us “the most dangerous” …… your topic was “election” but I saw you have discussed some other things like terrorism , which is good but I wish you would have done this on the basis of facts and truth ………… you said Islamabad cannot be trusted to confront this terrorism ….. tell me whom you can trust ,america ? …… why didn’t you tell the people that america has already lost this war in Afghanistan and Iraq …. we have one of the best armies in the world and can we do this on our own and we are doing better than america is doing in Afghanistan ….. all citizens of Pakistan condemn terrorism and have given sacrifices…………and instead of appreciating our efforts, You put all the dirt on your face like we are responsible for terrorism ….. you should know that it was not our war and everything was peaceful until America attacked Afghanistan ,air bases were provided by our stupid government and also let them drone attacks, which is the main cause of terrorism in Pakistan….. drone attacks have killed thousands of innocent, I personally belong to tribal area and have seen these things with my own eyes , and look at you people , just write down whatever you wish without knowing the facts and feeling of others …….. you also said that people hate america , yes you are totally right ….. most of the people do ……. Mr.DOUG how painful is if I strike your home with a done and kill your innocent children , and more painful when the next day you watch on the t.v describing your children as terrorists ….. are you gonna love me ?